


we are still living, like dragonflies in winter

by mistykasumi (oultrepreu)



Category: Naruto
Genre: 100-1000 Words, Alternate Reality, Future Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-14
Updated: 2006-12-14
Packaged: 2017-10-03 12:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 662
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oultrepreu/pseuds/mistykasumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke returns.</p>
            </blockquote>





	we are still living, like dragonflies in winter

Naruto drags Sasuke back eventually. Kakashi has never doubted this because Naruto is always so set on his goals, but he does not expect Naruto to abdicate his responsibility after just a few weeks. _We are just too different now_, Naruto explains to Kakashi. _I don't understand him any more_. Kakashi knows there are a lot of things Naruto isn't saying, but he does not press.

Hokage-sama puts Sasuke under his care. _You were his genin instructor, weren't you?_ she says, and it's almost an accusation, if Kakashi wants to make it that way, but there is no need because he's already been blaming himself partially for this whole mess.

Sasuke, in a way, is who he could have been had it not been for Obito. If Obito hadn't died and given his eye to Kakashi, Kakashi may very well still be the kid he had been, completely focused on rules and adhering to them the same way Sasuke devoted his life to killing his brother. But Sasuke did not have an Obito who died for him, even though he had Naruto, who is so very close and maybe better in some ways, and Kakashi cannot be the Yondaime for anyone.

It would be stupid to incapacitate Sasuke completely because he is one of the strongest they have now, but the council (and most of Konoha) do not trust him enough to let him use his charka outside of missions, and those Sasuke must take with a partner. Naruto had done that before, and Kakashi does it now.

It is strange, living with someone else. Kakashi has been alone in his apartment for longer than he cares to remember, and Sasuke is always there whenever Kakashi returns from a mission (he never did take on another genin team). Sasuke is only sent whenever the village absolutely needs manpower. Kakashi imagines it must be frustrating for Sasuke, with so much pent-up power inside that he does not know how to release. That is what he would feel, Kakashi is sure, but he also knows he would never have come to this, not with the Yondaime as his sensei, and there Kakashi has failed.

Sasuke's eyes are dark, and they tend to follow Kakashi when he is there. It is similar to what was between them before Sasuke left to chase after Itachi, and Kakashi is not sure if he should be flattered that this intensity Sauske had formerly reserved for only Itachi has been transferred to him. There are things Sasuke is implying, Kakashi knows, but he is not sure he wants to take the offer. Naruto is still a factor, always will be for Sasuke, and Kakashi still knows his team well enough to know nothing has been resolved.

Kakashi is not too surprised when Sasuke finally comes to him. Sasuke is not inexperienced, but neither is he experienced. He is needy and not completely certain about what he is doing, but it has been _so long_ for Kakashi that the touches feel good, unnecessarily so, and although he knows they should not be doing this because there are too many tangles still unsorted between all of Team 7 and within himself, he cannot resist.

Sasuke stays in his bed when it is over. Kakashi lets him. He knows this is an approval of sorts, but Kakashi is weak sometimes, as much as he tries not to be. Sensei would have said something like _there is no strength without weakness_, but that is Sensei, and Sensei would not have done anything like this in the first place. He had refused Kakashi every time.

Kakashi is sure that there will be complications of some sort later because they both have unresolved issues, but this has been something he's needed for a while, he thinks, and he understands Sasuke on a level no one else really can. So if this continues, he will let it, for as long as he can.

06.12.14


End file.
